Local Goa News

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Goans will not vote for BJP in 2017: Mamledar

PONDA: Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar, on Saturday, stated that the BJP had failed to fulfill several commitments to the public, especially the poor, who had not benefitted from the party being in power. He also claimed that Goans were expressing their resentment against the BJP, which made him feel that the latter would not be given a second chance in the forthcoming elections.
Mamledar was speaking at a protest meeting of Ponda market vendors, who are facing eviction from the market for not paying sopo in 2014-15.
He said that several problems of the common man had remained unsolved, while the government was working for only 7 to 8 per cent of people. Stating that the BJP was not bothered about making the poor self-sufficient, he cited the example of the Ponda sopo issue haunting the market vendors.
“The vendors are not in a position to pay even Rs 3 per sq mts in the market, but the PMC is harassing them to pay hefty sopo. It was a bad experience for the market vendors. I tried my best to solve the issue by writing to the government, but it failed to solve the issue and to consider the problems of the poor. I hope that the issue is solved after the next Assembly election, though the BJP could have made an effort to solve it in its current tenure,” said Mamledar.
He further claimed that during the MGP’s 17-year tenure, the party had worked only for the poor, but the present BJP government was not working for the common man, and was introducing schemes only for the rich.
He also accused the Ponda Municipal Council of dividing the Ponda market vendors association on the sopo issue, but he added that the PMC did not benefit from it. He asked the divided association to reunite and fight the PMC on the sopo matter.
Mamledar also criticised the PMC Chief Officer for not taking action on the sopo issue in a timely manner. “The Chief Officer failed to guide the council, which took a resolution to recover the sopo arrears. When the sopo is bound to be paid on daily basis, why did he fail to collect it? Why is he issuing notices to the vendors after two years for non-payment of sopo?” he said, and added that the CO’s actions were in contempt of court as the matter was sub judice.